Survey finds more than 80% of Sandwich streets in ‘poor or worse’ condition; big hike in street repair budget recommended

SANDWICH – A recently completed survey shows streets in the city are in very poor condition.

The City Council contracted with Engineering Enterprises Inc. of Sugar Grove to conduct the survey as part of the city’s pavement management program.

City Engineer Kurt Dettmann and EEI project manager Chris Ott presented the survey findings to the council during a Feb. 20 council meeting.

The survey showed that 82.7% of Sandwich streets are considered in poor or worse condition while only 17.3% are in fair or better condition.

Ott said the street inventory is only the first step in the city’s pavement management program. The program is designed to help city officials make more cost-effective decisions, objectively prioritize, apply a budget and develop a five-year plan for repairing city streets and infrastructure.

To complete the survey, EEI subcontracted with Infrastructure Management Services, which conducted an automated inspection of all the streets in the city using a vehicle equipped with a laser profiling machine and high-resolution imaging equipment.

Pavement defects were measured by lasers and date is entered by quantity and severity. Then each street was compiled in a database and assigned a pavement condition index rating of 0 to 100, based on the inventory findings.

Of all Sandwich streets, 0.6% failed (0-10), 8.3% are serious (11-25), 45.1% are very poor (26-40), 29.2% are poor (41-55), 14.3% are fair (56-70), 1.14% are good (71-85) and 1.9% are excellent (86-100).

Wells Street was the example given for a failed score, Latham Street was considered serious, Castle Street was very poor and Kees Lane was considered excellent.

Ott said the next steps for city officials is to identify a target budget for street repairs for the next five years, prioritizing streets for repair, develop a five-year plan to be reviewed annually and identify additional funding sources.

Another step of the pavement management program is budget analysis. EEI’s budget analysis program can calculate the amount of spending needed to reach a desired ranking or project the change in street ratings based on desired budgets.

Ott said to reach an overall score of 65 in 10 years, the city will need to spend about $2.4 million each year. However, he said that was more than necessary. Currently the city spends about $250,000 annually on street maintenance.

Ott said EEI is recommending an annual street maintenance budget of $1 million to $1.3 million, which would increase the overall network rating to 55/100 after 10 years. The current network rating is 43/100.

Ott said getting out to bid early in the year is important for getting favorable pricing on street maintenance work, and it may be too late to begin implementing a five-year plan this year.

Ott recommended treating 2023 as a preparation year, completing some projects using current funding, and implementing the five-year plan in 2024.

Dettmann told the council that now was the time to act, as the city has done very little street maintenance in the last five years.

Alderman Fred Kreinbrink pointed out that some of the relatively newer streets are not doing well. He asked if there is something the city can do to prevent further deterioration.

Ott said making sure in the planning stage that developers have contractors put down a solid base will assure a longer life cycle for streets in new subdivisions.

Alderman Bill Fritsch said that several waste management companies service his street with heavy trucks and asked whether that could contribute to increased wear and damage.

Ott said a single pass from a garbage truck is equal to about 1,500 cars, and if the city could reduce to a single garbage contractor, it could help minimize damage and extend the life cycle of residential streets.

Mayor Todd Latham said there is a lot of work to be done, and the council has a lot to think about and review. He asked the council to take a look at the streets in their respective wards as they think about a priority plan.